Established in 1842, the Wadsworth Atheneum is America's oldest public art museum. It was the first American museum to acquire works by Caravaggio, Frederic Church, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, Balthus, Joseph Cornell, and many others. Today our Hudson River School landscapes, Old Master paintings, modernist masterpieces, Meissen and Sevres porcelains, early American furniture and decorative arts, and MATRIX contemporary art shows are world-renowned. The Wadsworth presents more than 15 special shows each year. Many are inspired by masterworks in the museum's holdings, while others are solo shows by emerging artists.